North Touchet Restoration RM 1.3-2.0

The project at RM 1.3 reconnected floodplain, improved fish habitat, and restored riparian area in the project area. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) Cultural Resources Protection Program conducted the cultural resources survey for this project. No discoveries were found during the field survey. Additionally, the CTUIR Cultural Resources Protection Program also required a cultural resources monitor onsite during all phases of construction. A significant element of this project involved removing the existing levee and grading the newly connected floodplain. Consequently, we excavated over 30,000 cubic yards of material from the project area. The net result of the levee removal and floodplain grading was a reconnected floodplain over the entire project length. We know have over 10 acres of reconnected floodplain along this 0.5 mile stretch.

Large engineered wood structures were added directly to the stream channel along this project reach. These structures have multiple benefits. First they will accumulate and sort sediment, second they will provide habitat cover, third they will scour pools and some will also split channel flow. We also added engineered large wood high flow structures to the newly reconnected floodplain. In addition to the benefits already described for wood structures in general, the high flow structures added roughness to the newly reconnected floodplain.

In terms of planting, we began by using willow baffles by excavating trenches in the floodplains and then filling the trench with willow cuttings. A large quantity of trees and shrubs were planted in the new constructed floodplain following the design specifications. It looks like a forest down there.

This work benefits ESA listed mid-Columbia Steelhead, bull trout, redband trout, and now Chinook salmon.

The goal of this project is to provide over-wintering habitat for listed Mid-Columbia steelhead and Chinook in the Touchet River. This was achieved through levee set-back, allowing for floodplain reconnection; and adding wood to the channel and floodplain for channel aggradation and formation of pools and complex habitat in the project area.